Exemplar narratives: Resources for maintaining solidarity and upholding group standards in an American quilting guild

Abstract

AbstractUsing conversational data from an ethnographic study of a quilting guild, this article examines how narratives are used to negotiate the tension between maintaining solidarity and upholding group standards. The quilting guild, as a community of practice, provides an excellent context to investigate how narratives are used to construct and reinforce community practices. In this community, the socially situated activity, the quilted blocks on display, and their relationship to the narratives in the discourse are integral components of the interactional frame. The analysis specifically focuses on the role exemplar narratives play in negotiating the tensions between not criticizing other quilters and the group’s need to maintain quilting values and appropriate sewing skills. Through self-disclosure, exemplar narratives construct a less than perfect quilter. This self-portrayal acts to mitigate any implied criticism of intended recipient(s). Drawing on the sociocultural resources of common experiences and self-disclosure, exemplar narratives perform different interactional functions such as modeling accepted quilting practices, constructing both individual and group identities, and preserving an egalitarian floor. Thus, they are a strategic means to negotiate tensions between criticism and support necessary for participant learning in this community of practice.